An al Qaeda-backed group, the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, claimed responsibility in a Web statement for the worst breach of security in Baghdad’s most secure area —the Green Zone that also houses government offices and embassies. The Islamic State of Iraq group said in an Internet posting that it had delayed issuing the claim of responsibility to allow its men time to flee.Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation was incomplete, said the bomber was believed to be a bodyguard for a Sunni lawmaker who was not among the casualties. The officials did not name the lawmaker.“A knight reached the heart of the Green Zone , the temporary headquarters of the mice of the infidel Parliament, and blew himself up among a gathering of the infidel masters,” the Islamic State group said in the statement posted on one Islamic website commonly used by insurgents.The US-based SITE Institute, which tracks militant postings, said the claim appeared authentic. Some media reported on Thursday that al-Qaeda in Iraq had issued a claim an hour after the attack, but the Islamic web forum on which it was reportedly posted was not among those used by the group, so SITE cast doubt on its authenticity.A senior government source said authorities had intelligence that militants were planning an attack on parliament before Thursday’s bombing, which killed a member of Parliament and wounded two dozen other people in the building’s restaurant.Three cafeteria workers have been detained in this regard, a senior lawmaker said on Friday, as the US military revised Thursday’s death toll down to one. Parliament officials said the victim was Mohammed Awad, a moderate Sunni lawmaker. Seven of the wounded were members of Parliament, the officials said.US military spokesman Maj Gen William Caldwell had said on Thursday that eight people were killed in the bombing, a major security breach in the most heavily guarded region of Baghdad.Meanwhile, Iraqi lawmakers gathered on Friday in a rare and defiant session of Parliament on the Muslim day of prayer. A red and white bouquet sat in Awad’s place in the Parliament chamber. Empty seats outnumbered people, though, as lawmakers took the podium one after another to denounce the bombing. “The more the terrorists act, the more solid we become. When they take from us one martyr, we will offer more martyrs,” Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi said.
